View source for Postalveolar consonant

{{Short description|Consonants articulated with the tongue behind the alveolar ridge}}
{{More citations needed|date=August 2020}}
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'''Postalveolar''' ('''post-alveolar''') consonants are [[consonant]]s [[place of articulation|articulated]] with the tongue near or touching the ''back'' of the [[alveolar ridge]]. Articulation is farther back in the mouth than the [[alveolar consonant]]s, which are at the ridge itself, but not as far back as the hard [[palate]], the place of articulation for [[palatal consonant]]s. Examples of postalveolar consonants are the [[English language|English]] palato-alveolar consonants {{IPA|[ʃ] [tʃ] [ʒ] [dʒ]}}, as in the words "'''sh'''ip", "''''ch'''ill", "vi'''s'''ion", and "'''j'''ump", respectively.

There are many types of postalveolar sounds—especially among the [[sibilant]]s. The three primary types are ''palato-alveolar'' (such as {{IPA|[ʃ ʒ]}}, weakly palatalized; also ''alveopalatal''{{efn|The term ''alveopalatal'' or ''alveo-palatal'' was traditionally synonymous with ''palato-alveolar'', but may also be synonymous with ''alveolo-palatal''.<ref>{{cite book|last=MacKay|first=Ian R. A.|year=2023|title=Phonetics and Speech Science|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-108-42786-9|page=125}}</ref>}}), ''[[alveolo-palatal consonant|alveolo-palatal]]'' (such as {{IPA|[ɕ ʑ]}}, strongly palatalized), and ''[[retroflex consonant|retroflex]]'' (such as {{IPA|[ʂ ʐ]}}, unpalatalized). The palato-alveolar and alveolo-palatal subtypes are commonly counted as "palatals" in [[phonology]] since they rarely contrast with true [[palatal consonant]]s.

==Postalveolar sibilants==
For most sounds involving the tongue, the [[place of articulation]] can be sufficiently identified just by specifying the point of contact on the upper part of the mouth (for example, [[velar consonant]]s involve contact on the soft palate and [[dental consonant]]s involve the teeth), along with any [[secondary articulation]] such as [[palatalization (phonetics)|palatalization]] (raising of the tongue body) or [[labialization]] (lip rounding).

However, among sibilants, particularly postalveolar sibilants, there are slight differences in the shape of the tongue and the point of contact on the tongue itself, which correspond to large differences in the resulting sound. For example, the alveolar fricative {{IPA|[s]}} and the three postalveolar fricatives {{IPA|[ɕ ʃ ʂ]}} differ noticeably both in pitch and sharpness; the order {{IPA|[s ɕ ʃ ʂ]}} corresponds to progressively lower-pitched and duller (less "hissy" or piercing) sounds. ({{IPA|[s]}} is the highest-pitched and most piercing, which is the reason that hissing sounds like "Sssst!" or "Psssst!" are typically used to attract someone's attention). As a result, it is necessary to specify many additional subtypes.
<!-- Formerly, the next paragraph was confusing and inaccurate. I tried to rewrite it as follows, but it still is not accurate. {{IPA|[s]}} differs from the others by the grooved tongue shape, in addition to the point of tongue contact, and {{IPA|[ʃ]}} differs more in the domed tongue shape than in the point of tongue contact, which can occur anywhere from the tip to the front of the body. That is not really a "point of tongue contact" series at all but a tongue-shape series and so {{IPA|[ʂ]}} is no more or less part of the series than the others.

The four alveolar and postalveolar fricatives {{IPA|[s s̠ ʃ ɕ]}} are distinguished by the part of the tongue making contact with the roof of the mouth, ordered from front to back along the top surface of the tongue.<ref>John Esling, 2010, "Phonetic Notation". In Hardcastle, Laver, & Gibbon, eds, ''The Handbook of Phonetic Sciences'', p 693</ref> {{IPA|[s]}} is a [[coronal consonant]], articulated with the tip of the tongue or the blade (the portion just behind the tip). {{IPA|[ɕ]}} is a [[dorsal consonant]], articulated with the body of the tongue. {{IPA|[ʃ]}} is intermediate. The retroflex sound, {{IPA|[ʂ]}}, is typically made with the tip of the tongue but is not part of the same series since it varies in the shape of the tongue, rather than the point of contact. -->

===Tongue shape===
The main distinction is the shape of the tongue, which corresponds to differing degrees of [[Palatalization (phonetics)|palatalization]] (raising of the body of the tongue). From least to most palatalized, they are ''[[retroflex consonant|retroflex]]'' (such as {{IPA|[ʂ ʐ]}}, unpalatalized); ''[[palato-alveolar consonant|palato-alveolar]]'' (such as {{IPA|[ʃ ʒ]}}, weakly palatalized); and ''[[alveolo-palatal consonant|alveolo-palatal]]'' (such as {{IPA|[ɕ ʑ]}}, strongly palatalized). The increasing palatalization corresponds to progressively higher-pitched and sharper-sounding consonants.

Less technically, the retroflex consonant {{IPA|[ʂ]}} sounds somewhat like a mixture between the regular English {{IPA|[ʃ]}} of "ship" and the "h" at the beginning of "heard", especially when it is pronounced forcefully and with a strong [[rhoticity in English|American "r"]]. The alveolo-palatal consonant {{IPA|[ɕ]}} sounds like a strongly palatalized version of {{IPA|[ʃ]}}, somewhat like "nourish you".

The following table shows the three types of postalveolar sibilant fricatives defined in the IPA:

{| class=wikitable
|+IPA transcription of postalveolar sibilants
|-
! colspan=6 | Voiceless
! colspan=6 | Voiced
|-
! rowspan=2 | IPA
! rowspan=2 | Description
! colspan=4 | Example
! rowspan=2 | IPA
! rowspan=2 | Description
! colspan=4 | Example
|-
! Language
! Orthography
! IPA
! Meaning
! Language
! Orthography
! IPA
! Meaning
|-
! {{IPA|ʃ}}
| [[Voiceless palato-alveolar sibilant]]
| [[English language|English]]
| '''sh'''in
| {{IPA|['''ʃ'''ɪn]}}
| shin
! {{IPA|ʒ}}
| [[Voiced palato-alveolar sibilant]]
| [[English language|English]]
| vi'''s'''ion
| {{IPA|[vɪ'''ʒ'''ən]}}
| vision
|-
! {{IPA|ɕ}}
| [[Voiceless alveolo-palatal sibilant]]
| [[Mandarin Chinese|Mandarin]]
| 小 ('''x'''iǎo)
| {{IPA|[}}'''{{IPA|ɕ}}'''{{IPA|iɑu˨˩˦]}}
| small
! {{IPA|ʑ}}
| [[Voiced alveolo-palatal sibilant]]
| [[Polish language|Polish]]
| '''zi'''oło
| {{IPA|[}}'''{{IPA|ʑ}}'''{{IPA|ɔwɔ]}}
| herb
|-
|- style="height:4em"
! {{IPA|ʂ}}
| [[voiceless retroflex sibilant]]
| [[Mandarin Chinese|Mandarin]]
| 上海 ('''Sh'''ànghǎi)
| {{IPA|[}}'''{{IPA|ʂ}}'''{{IPA|ɑ̂ŋ.xàɪ]}}
| Shanghai
! {{IPA|ʐ}}
| [[voiced retroflex sibilant]]
| [[Russian language|Russian]]<br>[[Polish language|Polish]]
| '''ж'''аба ('''''ž'''aba'')
[[Polish orthography|'''ż'''aba]]
| {{IPA|[}}'''{{IPA|ʐ}}'''{{IPA|abə]}}
{{IPA|[}}'''{{IPA|ʐ}}'''{{IPA|aba]}}
| toad<br>frog
|-
|}

===Point of tongue contact (laminal, apical, subapical)===
A second variable is whether the contact occurs with the very tip of the tongue (an ''[[apical consonant|apical]]'' articulation {{IPA|[ʃ̺]}}), with the surface just above the tip, the ''blade'' of the tongue (a ''[[laminal consonant|laminal]]'' articulation {{IPA|[ʃ̻]}}), or with the underside of the tip (a ''[[subapical consonant|subapical]]'' articulation). Apical and subapical articulations are always "tongue-up", with the tip of the tongue above the teeth, and laminal articulations are often "tongue-down", with the tip of the tongue behind the lower teeth.

The upward curvature of the tongue tip to make apical or subapical contact renders palatalization more difficult so domed (palato-alveolar) consonants are not attested with subapical articulation and fully palatalized (such as alveolo-palatal) sounds occur only with laminal articulation. Also, the apical-laminal distinction among palato-alveolar sounds makes little (although presumably non-zero<ref>The [[Toda language]] consistently uses a laminal articulation for its palato-alveolar sibilants, which presumably makes the sound a bit "sharper", more like the alveolo-palatal sibilants, increasing the perceptual difference from the two types of retroflex sibilants that also occur in Toda.</ref>) perceptible difference; both articulations, in fact, occur among English-speakers.<ref>{{SOWL}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=December 2024}}

As a result, the differing points of tongue contact (laminal, apical and subapical) are significant largely for retroflex sounds. Retroflex sounds can also occur outside of the postalveolar region, ranging from as far back as the [[palatal consonant|hard palate]] to as far forward as the [[alveolar consonant|alveolar region]] behind the teeth. Subapical retroflex sounds are often palatal (and vice versa), which occur particularly in the [[Dravidian languages]].

===Position of tongue tip (laminal "closed")===
There is an additional distinction that can be made among tongue-down laminal sounds, depending on exactly where behind the lower teeth the tongue tip is placed. A bit behind the lower teeth is a hollow area (or pit) in the lower surface of the mouth. When the tongue tip rests in the hollowed area, there is an empty space below the tongue (a ''sublingual cavity''), which results in a relatively more "hushing" sound. When the tip of the tongue rests against the lower teeth, there is no sublingual cavity, resulting in a more "hissing" sound. Generally, the tongue-down postalveolar consonants have the tongue tip on the hollowed area (with a sublingual cavity), whereas for the tongue-down alveolar consonants, the tongue tip rests against the teeth (no sublingual cavity), which accentuates the hissing vs. hushing distinction of these sounds.

However, the palato-alveolar sibilants in [[Northwest Caucasian languages]] such as the extinct [[Ubykh language|Ubykh]] have the tongue tip resting directly against the lower teeth rather than in the hollowed area. Ladefoged and Maddieson<ref>{{SOWL}}</ref> term it a "''closed'' laminal postalveolar" articulation, which gives the sounds a quality that [[JC Catford]] describes as "hissing-hushing" sounds. Catford transcribes them as {{angbr IPA|ŝ, ẑ}} (that is not IPA notation; the [[obsolete IPA]] letters {{angbr IPA|ʆ, ʓ}} have occasionally been resurrected for these sounds).

A laminal "closed" articulation could also be made with alveolo-palatal sibilants and a laminal "non-closed" articulation with alveolar sibilants, but no language appears to do so. In addition, no language seems to have a minimal contrast between two sounds based only on the "closed"/"non-closed" variation, with no concomitant articulatory distinctions (for all languages, including the [[Northwest Caucasian languages]], if the language has two laminal sibilants, one of which is "closed" and the other is "non-closed", they will also differ in some other ways).

===Examples===
A few languages distinguish three different postalveolar sibilant tongue shapes ({{IPA|/ʂ/ /ʃ/ /ɕ/}}) such as the [[Sino-Tibetan languages|Sino-Tibetan]] [[Northern Qiang]] and [[Southern Qiang]], which make such a distinction among [[affricate]]s (but only a two-way distinction among [[fricative]]s) and the [[Northwest Caucasian languages]] [[Ubykh language|Ubykh]] (now extinct) and [[Abkhaz language|Abkhaz]]. More common are languages such as [[Mandarin Chinese]] and [[Polish language|Polish]], which distinguish two postalveolar [[sibilants]], typically {{IPA|/ʂ/ /ɕ/}} since they are maximally distinct.

The attested possibilities, with exemplar languages, are as follows. IPA diacritics are simplified, and some articulations would require two diacritics to be fully specified, but only one is used to keep the results legible without the need for [[OpenType]] IPA fonts. Also, [[Peter Ladefoged]], whose notation is used here, has resurrected an obsolete IPA symbol, the under dot, to indicate the apical postalveolar, which is normally included in the category of [[retroflex consonant]]s. The notation {{IPA|s̠, ṣ}} is sometimes reversed, and either may also be called 'retroflex' and written {{IPA|ʂ}}.

<!-- Note: Ladefoged is inconsistent in his sub-dot and sub-bar notation, especially between stops and fricatives. This table follows his verbal descriptions and his notation for stops as well as for the fricatives of Ubyx, which was mistakenly placed in the same row as Chinese and Polish in table 5.7 of SOWL, perhaps because of that ambiguity. -->
{|
! IPA !! Place of articulation !! Exemplifying languages
|-
| <big> {{IPA|[s̠&nbsp;z̠]}}</big> || laminal flat postalveolar (laminal retroflex) || [[Polish language|Polish]] ''sz, rz, cz, dż'', [[Mandarin Chinese|Mandarin]] ''sh, zh, ch''
|-
| <big> {{IPA|[ṣ&nbsp;ẓ]}}</big> || apical postalveolar (apical retroflex) || [[Ubykh language|Ubykh]], [[Toda language|Toda]]
|-
| <big> {{IPA|[ʃ&nbsp;ʒ]}}</big> || domed postalveolar (palato-alveolar) || [[English language|English]] ''sh, zh'' (may be either laminal or apical)
|-
| <big> {{IPA|[ʃ̻&nbsp;ʒ̻]}}</big> || laminal domed postalveolar || Toda
|-
| <big> {{IPA|[ɕ&nbsp;ʑ]}}</big> || laminal palatalized postalveolar (alveolo-palatal) || Mandarin ''q, j, x'', Polish ''ć, ś, ź, dź'', Ubykh
|-
| <big> {{IPA|[ʆ&nbsp;ʓ]}}</big> || laminal closed postalveolar || Ubykh
|-
| <big> {{IPA|[ʂ&nbsp;ʐ]}}</big> || subapical postalveolar or palatal (subapical retroflex) || Toda
|}

==Postalveolar non-sibilants==
Non-sibilant sounds can also be made in the postalveolar region, the number of acoustically distinct variations is then significantly reduced. The primary distinction for such sounds is between [[laminal consonant|laminal]] [[Palatalization (phonetics)|palatalized]] and [[apical consonant|apical]] [[retroflex consonant|retroflex]] non-palatalized. (Subapical retroflex non-sibilants also occur but tend to be [[palatal consonant|palatal]], as for sibilants.)

===Non-palatalized (retroflex)===
Retroflex stops, nasals and laterals (like {{IPA|[ʈ ɳ ɭ]}}) occur in a number of languages across the world such as in [[South Asian languages]] such as [[Hindi]] and various [[East Asian languages]] such as [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]]. The sounds are fairly rare in European languages but occur, for example, in [[Swedish language|Swedish]]; they are then often considered to be [[allophone]]s of sequences such as {{IPA|/rn/}} or {{IPA|/rt/}}. Also, for some languages that distinguish "dental" vs. "alveolar" stops and nasals, they are actually articulated nearer to prealveolar and postalveolar, respectively.

The normal [[rhotic consonant]] (''r''-sound) in [[English language|English]] is a [[postalveolar approximant]] {{IPA|[ɹ̠]}}). In some dialects of American English, this may either be a [[voiced velar bunched approximant|velar bunched approximant]] {{IPA|[ɹ̈]}} or a [[retroflex approximant]] {{IPA|[ɻ]}}. Retroflex rhotics of various sorts, especially [[approximant consonant|approximant]]s and [[flap consonant|flap]]s occur commonly in the world's languages. Some languages also have retroflex trills. <!--[[Tamil language|Tamil]] and [[Malayalam language|Malayalam]] have two trills, at least for many speakers, {{IPA|[r̟]}} vs. {{IPA|[r̠]}}, the latter of which being retroflex.--> [[Toda language|Toda]] is particularly unusual in that it has ''six'' trills, including a palatalized/non-palatalized distinction and a three-way place distinction among dental, alveolar and retroflex trills.

===Palatalized===
Palatalized postalveolar non-sibilants are usually considered to be alveolo-palatal. Some non-sibilant sounds in some languages are said to be palato-alveolar rather than alveolo-palatal, but in practice, it is unclear if there is any consistent acoustic distinction between the two types of sounds.

In phonological descriptions, alveolo-palatal postalveolar non-sibilants are usually not distinguished as such but are considered to be variants of either [[palatal consonant|palatal]] non-sibilants (such as {{IPA|[c ɲ ʎ]}} or of [[Palatalization (phonetics)|palatalized]] [[alveolar consonant|alveolar]] non-sibilants (such as {{IPA|[tʲ nʲ lʲ]}}). Even the two types are often not distinguished among nasals and laterals, as almost all languages have only one palatalized/palatal nasal or lateral in their phonemic inventories. For example, the sound described as a "palatal lateral" in various [[Romance language]]s and often indicated as {{IPA|/ʎ/}} is most often alveolo-palatal {{IPA|[ḻʲ]}} (like in [[Catalan language|Catalan]] and [[Italian language|Italian]]) and sometimes a palatalized alveolar {{IPA|[lʲ]}}, such as in some northern [[Brazilian Portuguese]] dialects.

The IPA does not have specific symbols for alveolo-palatal non-sibilants, but they can be denoted using the advanced diacritic like {{angbr IPA|c̟ ɲ̟ ʎ̟}}. [[Sinology|Sinologists]] often use special symbols for alveolo-palatal non-sibilants, {{angbr IPA|ȶ ȵ ȴ}}, created by analogy with the curls used to mark alveolo-palatal sibilants. However, the actual sounds indicated using these symbols are often palatal or palatalized alveolar rather than alveolo-palatal, like the variation for symbols like {{IPA|[ɲ ʎ]}}. The decision to use the special alveolo-palatal symbols in sinology is largely based on distributional similarities between the sounds in question and the alveolo-palatal sibilants, which are prominent in many [[Languages of East Asia|East Asian languages]].

<!--However, a few languages distinguish alveolo-palatal sounds from other palatalized non-sibilants in the dental-to-palatal region. Many conservative dialects of [[Irish language|Irish]] in fact have a three-way distinction among palatalized nasals between dorsal palatal {{IPA|[ɲ]}}, laminal alveolo-palatal {{IPA|[ṉʲ]}}, and apical palatalized alveolar {{IPA|[nʲ]}}. That is typical with oppositions among similar sounds in a single language, the sounds being maximally different in that each one differs both in the point of contact on the tongue (dorsal vs. laminal vs. apical) and the roof of the mouth (palatal vs. postalveolar vs. alveolar from all others). The other dialects have lost one of the two palatalized coronals but still have a two-way distinction. A similar distinction between palatal {{IPA|[ɲ]}} and alveolo-palatal {{IPA|[ṉʲ]}} exists in some nonstandard forms of [[Malayalam language|Malayalam]].-->

===Examples===
Some languages distinguish palatalized (alveolo-palatal) and non-palatalized (retroflex) postalveolar nasals and/or laterals.

Some [[Australian languages]] distinguish four [[coronal consonant|coronal]] nasals and laterals: laminal dental {{IPA|[n̪ l̪]}}, apical alveolar {{IPA|[n l]}}, laminal postalveolar (palatalized) {{IPA|[ṉʲ ḻʲ]}}, and apical postalveolar (retroflex) {{IPA|[ɳ ɭ]}}.
<!--The nonstandard [[Malayalam language|Malayalam]] dialects mentioned above have five acute (including four coronal) nasals: laminal dental {{IPA|[n̪]}}, apical alveolar {{IPA|[n]}}, laminal postalveolar (palatalized) {{IPA|[ṉʲ]}}, subapical palatal (retroflex) {{IPA|[ɳ]}}, and dorsal palatal (palatalized) {{IPA|[ɲ]}} (in addition to labial {{IPA|[m]}} and velar {{IPA|[ŋ]}}). Standard Malayalam lacks the laminal palatalized postalveolar.-->
<!--The conservative [[Irish language|Irish]] dialects mentioned above also have five acute nasals, again including four coronal; however, only four different primary articulations are involved, as a secondary [[velarized]]/[[palatalization (phonetics)|palatalized]] distinction is at play. The sounds in question are laminal dental velarized {{IPA|[n̪ˠ]}}, apical alveolar velarized {{IPA|[nˠ]}}, apical alveolar palatalized {{IPA|[nʲ]}}, laminal postalveolar (palatalized) {{IPA|[ṉʲ]}}, and dorsal palatal {{IPA|[ɲ]}} (in addition to labial velarized {{IPA|[mˠ]}}, labial palatalized {{IPA|[mʲ]}} and velar {{IPA|[ŋ]}}). The eight sounds participate in four velarized/palatalized pairs: {{IPA|[mˠ mʲ]}}; {{IPA|[n̪ˠ ṉʲ]}}; {{IPA|[nˠ nʲ]}}; {{IPA|[ŋ ɲ]}}. Other dialects have variously reduced the four coronal nasals to three or two.-->

==Postalveolar clicks==
There are two postalveolar [[click consonant|click]] types that can occur, commonly described as "[[postalveolar click|postalveolar]]" and "[[palatal click|palatal]]", but they would be perhaps more accurately described as apical and laminal postalveolar, respectively:

{|class=wikitable
|-
! rowspan="2" width="50" | IPA
! rowspan="2" | Description
! colspan="4" | Example
|-
! Language
! Orthography
! width="80" | IPA
! Meaning
|-
! {{IPA|ǃ}}
| [[Postalveolar click|Apical (post)alveolar click]]
| [[Nama language|Nama]]
| '''!'''oas
| {{IPA|[k͡'''ǃ'''oas]}}
| hollow
|-
! {{IPA|ǂ}}
| [[palatal click|Laminal postalveolar click]]
| [[!Kung language|!Kung]]
| '''ǂ'''ua
| {{IPA|[k͡'''ǂ'''wa]}}
| to imitate
|}

==See also==

* [[Place of articulation]]
* [[Alveolo-palatal consonant]]
* [[Retroflex consonant]]
* [[List of phonetics topics]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

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[[Category:Place of articulation]]
[[Category:Postalveolar consonants| ]]